TOKYO PREVIEW: Toyota Crown Hybrid Concept

Nothing much is known about the new Toyota Crown Hybrid Concept that will be displayed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show other than a list of new features to be showcased – so we will have to wait until the motorshow rolls by to find out exactly what these new technologies are.

Anyway onto the features – the Toyota Crown Hybrid Concept will features Toyota Hybrid System II, an evolution of the current system being used in production hybrid vehicles – this uses a two-stage motor speed reduction device which helps achieve smoother acceleration, better fuel efficiency, low emissions and lower noise.

A new Finegraphic Meter TFT LCD display will be employed in the interior to provide information to the driver in an easy to see and understand manner – this could finally make its way into Toyota vehicles the same way Optitron started being used in Lexus cars first, so I think we should pay attention to this particular technology.

Vehicle stability will be enhanced with VDIM and active steering control, which I think has already made its debut on cars like the Toyota Mark X ZiO – using an optimal balance between drive power, steering and braking to help regain control of the vehicle in emergency cases. For passive safety, the car has 10 SRS airbags.

Like the Toyota Crowns before it, this new concept will likely be a front engine, rear wheel drive car. It is Toyota’s largest sedan and is about the same size as a Lexus LS.

An interesting fact to share: many Toyota sedans have been named after variations of the word Crown. There’s the Toyota Corona, where Corona is latin for crown, and there’s also the Corolla, which means small crown and usually refers to the small center “crown” of a flower. The Toyota Camry gets its name from kan-muri, meaning small crown.

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.

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